CHAPTER II 



THE PERCH FAMILY 



BY JOHN BICKERDYKE, M.A. 





Phttt ky Dr. R. W. ihufildl} 



LARGE-MOUTHED BLACK BASS 



An exceedingly gamy fighter 



f I ^HE thick-set, golden-bronze, 

 I dark-barred, hog-backed 



J_ fish known as the PERCH 

 has many striking characteristics, and 

 is remarkable, among other things, for 

 the vast number of its relations scat- 

 tered all over the world. So numerous, 

 indeed, are its cousins that ichthy- 

 ologists have had to divide the Perch 

 Family into a large number of groups. 

 There are various species of perch 

 found, as a matter of fact, in the fresh- 

 waters and on all the coasts of the 

 temperate and tropical regions. 



The COMMON PERCH, which is 

 widely distributed over Europe, 

 Northern Asia, and North America, 

 is properly an inhabitant of rivers, 



lake: 7 , and ponds, but sometimes descends to brackish water. It runs up to about 5 Ibs. in 



weight, and is carnivorous, eating most kinds of fish small enough for its swallow, including 



the fry of its own species, which are, in some waters, an excellent bait. 



In England perch spawn in the spring, the eggs being held in a band-like mass of 



gelatinous matter deposited on weeds or the roots of trees not far below the surface of the 



water. The spawn, as a matter of fact, is often collected by fish-culturists and hatched out. 



Swans and water-fowl gener- 



ally eat the eggs by the million, 



and wherever perch are pre- 



served these birds should, so 



far as possible, be kept from 



the water during the spawn- 



ing-season. At Henley and 



other places on the Thames 



those interested in fishery 



preservation placewirenetting 



round the boughs and weeds 



where perch have spawned, 



to prevent the eggs being 



eaten by swans and ducks. 

 Perch are usually termed 



voracious fish, but when large BUTTER-FISH 



A native oft/it trcficai fart, ofthc Indo-Pacifc Ocean 



612 



Ph,,, k, W. Sa-villi-Ktm, F.Z.S.] 



are extremely Shy and difficult 



